


Visiting Hours

by markijack



Category: Video Blogging RPF, jacksepticeye
Genre: Alcohol, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Author knows nothing about comas and it shows, Coma, Hospitals, Jack is still in a coma but no mention of Anti or other egos, Kind of an au?, M/M, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-27
Updated: 2019-01-27
Packaged: 2019-10-17 08:41:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17557073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/markijack/pseuds/markijack
Summary: Henrik expected Jack to be just another comatose patient he didn't care about. But the sweet, funny guy who comes to visit him... he wasn't expecting that at all.





	Visiting Hours

Henrik would bet good money that Chase didn’t even remember meeting him. The longer they knew each other, the more apparent it was that the YouTuber and father of two had a kind heart and good sense of humor, but on that first day, he had barely seen his face. All he’d gotten was an ambivalent glance from under the brim of a snapback as he’d entered the room. And even though he’d turned away before the doctor could even introduce himself, Henrik had time to see how red his eyes were.

Maybe that’s why Jack was the only patient who felt like a person, not a problem.

Chase wasn’t the only person who’d been there that first day, and he wasn’t the only one who ever came back to visit, but he came back a lot more often than anyone else. Henrik didn’t quite understand it. He knew plenty of coma patients who had loving spouses, parents, and children who didn’t come in this much; the harsh truth was that it was sort of boring visiting someone in that state. But whenever Henrik asked him about it, he would just say he missed his friend a lot.

It took some time, but they started to get to know each other. Chase often visited at odd hours, mid-mornings on weekdays, when things were slow on Henrik’s floor. And since he sure as hell wasn’t gonna do paperwork, sometimes he made conversation. He learned about Bro Average, which explained Chase’s unusual schedule; he even looked up the channel. It was ok. He thought some of the tricks were funny, but it was odd to see the online persona of someone he knew to be so different in real life. He liked Chase’s real smile better. He also started to understand that Jack wasn’t the only person he was missing. Early on, he had talked freely about ‘his wife’ and two children, admitting they weren’t living together, but always emphasizing that it was a very temporary situation. Then, ‘my wife’ became ‘Stacy,’ and he mentioned her less and less, only in relation to the kids he saw on the weekends.

They had never had a heart-to-heart about it or anything. It wasn’t that Henrik didn’t want to help, but he had no fucking idea what to say. Once, Chase had sighed that he hoped the kids knew he was doing his best, which would’ve been a perfect time for Henrik to sympathize, to say, yeah, it’s hard when the kids live with someone else, he had instead said, “oh, that is why I stopped trying. At least I know where I stand with mine.” It occurred to him a second later that it might be insensitive to make jokes, which was odd, because sensitivity as a concept was fairly foreign to him in general. Fortunately, Chase had just laughed.

So it was a few months of that, of conversation that teetered between the pleasantries of acquaintances and the banter of friends, of trying to put a finger on why Chase was different than the other visitors he met, all happening next to a hospital bed where someone he had never even met lay unresponsive. And then it was Christmas.

When he walked into Jack’s room, he was greeted with “Hey dude! You have to work today?”

“I only have another hour left on my shift! But what are you doing here? It is a Saturday, so you have your kids, yes?”

Chase kept smiling, but the muscles in his face tightened. “Actually, Stacy gets them for the holidays.”

“Ah. She did not invite you to celebrate with them?”

He swallowed hard instead of answering, and turned his gaze down to Jack. The memory of that first day when Jack was brought in flashed in Henrik’s mind. That same look with sad eyes darting away, staring down at loss, at loneliness.

Unsure of what to say in the moment, he left Chase alone to his… well, whatever it was that he said or did when he was alone with Jack. He kept busy for the next hour; there were lots of visitors on Christmas day, the patients’ closest loved ones, who couldn’t bear spending this special day without whoever they were visiting. Mothers cried over their children’s motionless bodies, siblings and spouses gave shaky renditions of what was going on in their worlds and promises and prayers that all would be better soon, not knowing if the person they were speaking to could even hear them. It was sad.

Why didn’t he feel as bad for any of them as he did for Chase?

When he was finally done with the other patients, he leaned back into Jack’s room. Chase was still in his chair, now looking at his phone.

“Well, I am heading out! What are you doing this evening?”

Chase looked surprised. “Going home, I guess.”

“Is boring! Come, have drink with me.”

“For real?”

“Christmas is the time to have fun!”

“Guess I can’t argue with that,” he said, a smile slowly spreading across his face again.

They managed to find a bar that was open. The clientele looked pretty sad, but hey, who were they to judge? They were there, too.

For the first few drinks it was all laughs; they talked about movies and their jobs. But conversation rolled around to family, and they were fairly drunk already, and Henrik found himself saying, “Look, I know you miss how it used to be, but I promise, it is better this way. I tried to keep my family together, but when nothing changes, you stay miserable. Does this make sense?”

“I guess,” Chase said, distant. He ordered another drink, downed it fast as soon as it arrived, and said, “Thanks for bringing me here, by the way.”

“No thanks needed, I enjoy your company. I hope that you are having good time.”

Chase laughed softly. “I am. I think these are starting to hit me.”

It turns out, they were hitting him, and hitting him hard. He slipped from ‘slightly buzzed’ to ‘giggly drunken mess’ in record time, his voice just a little too loud as he chatted with Henrik like they were old friends and suddenly Henrik finally, _finally_ figured out what this was: cute. Chase was cute.

What the hell was he supposed to do about _that_?

While Henrik was in the process of trying to make his face neutral while his brain went into full freak-out mode, Chase leaned down and rested his head on the bar.

“You should not do that,” he warned him weakly, hoping he sounded normal. “Covered in germs. You could contract any number of diseases.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Oh yes. I am a very professional doctor, trust me.”

“But I’m tired,” he whined, though he lifted his head.

“It is getting late. Come on, let’s get you a cab.”

When they stood, Chase pitched forward until he was leaning on Henrik’s shoulder. Awkwardly, he guided him forward, wrapping an arm around him to support him. Realizing he himself was in no state to drive, he decided they’d share the taxi. Once they were seated in the back, he expected Chase to lift his head from his shoulder, but he didn’t. Instead, he slurred, “Thank you for being so nice to me, dude. No one’s been so nice in a long time.”

He didn’t know whether to say ‘you’re welcome’ or ‘sorry,’ so he just said, “yeah.”

They got to Chase’s place first. Henrik squinted through the darkness outside the window to see it. For a fleeting moment, he hoped he’d be invited in, but all Chase said was “Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas, Chase,” he whispered, and then he was alone. He told the driver to wait until Chase had made it inside, just to make sure that he wasn’t too drunk to unlock the front door.

What the fuck was happening to him?

Chase didn’t come in the next day, but on Monday he greeted Henrik as brightly as ever. He didn’t mention anything about the bar, and for a moment Henrik worried that nothing had changed between them, but when they had time to talk, Chase pulled out his phone and showed him pictures of his kids - something he’d never done before.

So maybe they were friends. Sometimes Chase would get sandwiches from the sub shop down the street and bring an extra one for Henrik. They talked about TV shows they liked and even told some stories from their younger years. They didn’t see each other outside of the hospital again; Chase didn’t bring it up and as Henrik was increasingly sure his feelings were not platonic, he began to overthink everything. He was convinced that if he invited him out again Chase would figure him out and laugh at him. Actually, laughing at someone as pathetic as this would be Henrik’s move, Chase would probably give him kind, pitying eyes, say he was flattered, let him down easy. It would be so much worse.

So he wasn’t 100% sure what place their relationship was in, but wherever it was, it stayed there for about a month. That’s when an official decision about the case was made and Henrik was given permission to move forward. When he went to Jack’s room, he found Chase already sitting there. “Hey, bro! How was your day off?”

“Good,” Henrik nodded. “I actually have some good news. A while ago I sent Jack’s file to a research team. They have been testing a drug that has been very successful so far in treating people in Jack’s condition.”

“So… there’s a chance he could get better?”

“There is.”

“But they’re still testing it? How long would it be before you could get it?”

“They are doing clinical trials, but they thought Jack sounded like a perfect candidate. They approved him for the study yesterday.”

“What does that mean? He can start the medicine?”

“The pharmacy is getting it ready now; they should be sending it up soon.”

“I don’t know what to say. After all this time he’ll just… wake up?”

“He might, but I do not want to get your hopes up. They have had good luck overall, but it hasn’t worked for everyone. And even if it does, it would take twelve to twenty-four hours for him to wake up, and he would be very weak. He would still be confined to this bed for quite a while. He has a good chance, but it is important to have realistic expectations.” This wasn’t how they would normally talk, all professional, but he wanted to be clear so that Chase didn’t get disappointed or mad at him if things didn’t work out.

“I understand,” he nodded, smiling gently. There were tears in his eyes - happy tears, it seemed, but they still made Henrik uncomfortable. They reminded him of why he had done away with bedside manner long ago. It was easier to be a jerk. But if he had any prayer left of turning back, of closing himself back up and trying to treat this like any other patient and visitor, it vanished when Chase stepped forward and hugged him. “Thank you. Thank you so much for finding this study and sending them his file.”

“You do not need to thank me,” he said as Chase pulled away, trying shakily to laugh it off. “I am his doctor, it is my job!”

“I know. But still, thank you.”

A nurse brought the new medication in soon after and made quick work of hanging it up and starting it running. And then she left, went to help one of her many other patients. From an outsider’s perspective, it seemed like just another day in a hospital, with all the doctors and nurses bustling from room to room, the paperwork, the lights and noises. But everytime Henrik glanced into Jack’s room, it felt like he was looking into another dimension, one totally isolated from the chaos around it. Chase had pulled his chair closer to the bed than usual and was sitting completely still, his phone lying untouched on the table beside him. The only movement was the medicine slowly dripping, and Chase’s eyes occasionally flitting back and forth between his motionless friend and the monitor that displayed his vitals. Whether or not the medicine was working wouldn’t be evident from the numbers there, but Henrik doubted Chase would stop watching if he told him that, so he didn’t bother.

It took about an hour for the bag to empty; the nurse switched him back to the normal fluids. Another hour and a half later, she came back to take some blood. Henrik only had a minute to explain that they were testing it to see if his numbers were affected now that Jack’s body had some time to absorb the drug. He told Chase not to worry if everything was the same, that it might just need more time, but if things improved, it was a pretty definite sign that it was working. Chase had just nodded; he seemed to be too nervous to speak.

By the time they got the results back, Henrik was only twenty minutes away from the end of his shift and the floor had calmed down considerably. On the other hand, he wasn’t met with silence when he knocked on Jack’s door this time. “I’m not leaving!” Chase snapped without looking away from the bed.

Again, Henrik was reminded of that very first day, when Chase had barely spared him a glance. In a way, the circumstances seemed to be reversed, but somehow, it also felt like very little had changed.

“Ah, that is right, visiting hours ended at eight.”

“Sorry. Didn’t know it was you. They keep trying to kick me out.”

“I will tell them to leave you alone. You have waited a long time for this.”

“Thank y- wait, what?”

“The results from the blood test came back and showed definite improvement. The medication is working.”

Chase took the paper Henrik was holding, the one with Jack’s numbers on it, and ran his eyes frantically over it, as if he had any clue what it meant. Finally he looked back up at Henrik and whispered, “Really?”

“Really. He won’t wake up until tomorrow morning at least, maybe tomorrow afternoon, so if you want to go home and sleep-”

“No. I already told everyone there wouldn’t be any videos for a few days, and my kids are with my ex-wife. I’m staying here.”

“Alright.” He looked at the clock; he was officially done for the day, free to go home and finally get some rest. “Would you mind if I stayed with you?”

“Why?”

“I’m, uh, very interested. New drug, and all. Probably best to keep an eye on him.”

“That’s really nice of you. Thanks.” He’s looking at Henrik with such admiration, clearly impressed by how far he would go to help his patients, and Henrik loved it, because all he wanted was for Chase to look at him like that, but he hated it, because he wanted Chase to know that this isn’t just a patient, that wasn’t why he was doing this.

It was strange, how little Jack had played into how he felt so far, but then again, Henrik had never really met Jack. But now Jack was going to wake up. He was going to give Chase someone to talk to when he visited, and eventually, he would go home, and Chase would have no reason to visit anymore. So what did this mean? Did Chase consider him a friend, or an acquaintance he was connected to only through temporary circumstance? They had bonded on Christmas, Henrik had been there for him. They had shared some food, some jokes. They had talked about some personal stuff too, like their families, and he had just heard Chase call Stacy his “ex-wife,” which he had never done before. Was all of that enough to warrant spending time together when there was no actual need to see each other any more? How would Chase feel about him when his company was a choice, not a given?

“So now we just wait?” Chase asked.

“Yes,” he answered, his voice a little distant. “Now we wait.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading. I actually wrote this in October and I have no good reason why it's taken me this long to post. It was my very first Schneeplebro story, and I think my first ego fic in general, so I think I got too hung up on all the little details I didn't like, but I've been working on some more stuff for this ship recently, so I figured it was time to be done with this and put it out there. 
> 
> If you want to follow me and/or send me a request on Tumblr, I'm @henrik-von-schneeplestein and I do have a sideblog @schneeplebro which so far is just reblogs bc I don't really put my writing on Tumblr, but I might post some drabbles soon, and I do take prompts/requests if you're interested :)


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